huckleberry_houndfandomcom-20200214-history
Lion-Hearted Huck
Lion-Hearted Huck is the second episode of the Huckleberry Hound cartoon series, which first aired on October 9, 1958. It was directed and produced by Joseph Barbera and William Hanna, while the story was crafted by Charles Shows and Dan Gordon. Synopsis We open with a shot of Africa, then the usual right pan over the jungle background, and then Huck in his jeep passing the same light green tree seven times. However, this being the modern, high-tech world of 1958, one of the jungle palms sports a grid-shaped antenna. It detects Huck and sends a warning sound to a monkey, who spots Huck on a radar scope (bringing new meaning to the theme song lyric “tune up your TV set”), and warns a sleeping King of Beasts. Here’s where a clever animation-saving device can be found. Movement is simulated by holding the monkey in the air and then doing a leg spin-cycle for a few seconds; Jinks did this in Cousin Tex as well. This same airborne-monkey cycle is used a few seconds earlier, thus saving more animation. Oops! There’s a continuity screw-up. When the lion is woken up by the phone, he is not wearing a crown. There's a cut to his arm reaching to answer the phone, and then the scene cuts back to a full shot of the lion and he’s wearing a crown. Now comes the “mixed-up tracks routine” as the lion tries to throw Huck off the scent. First, there are lion tracks, then hen tracks, which cause Huck to remark “Maybe this lion is chicken.” OK, it’s corny but it’s my favourite line. Sneaker tracks follow, and then the lion in killer high-heels. Huck takes a short cut to investigate (why didn’t he do that in the first place?) which results in a conversation where the lion realises Huck’s the hunter he’s trying to avoid, and he beats a retreat into a convenient cave. Next comes the ebb and flow of the battle of wits. Huck digs a lion trap but the convenient cave has a convenient bulldozer which is used on our hero. Now, it’s the lion’s turn. He first snares Huck’s jeep (which Huck somehow gets down), then uses thumb tacks to puncture a tire and helpfully hoist the stricken jeep, crushing it (and Huck) under the branch of some firm foliage. Huck tries laying a trap, but he has to get inside it to separate the jaws. Unfortunately, Huck tells the lion what he’s doing is “ticklish business,” which gives the lion a gitchie-gitchie idea and “Thwap!” When Huck is caught, the audience never actually sees it; there’s a cutaway shot to the lion. On top of that, there’s a five-second hold on the shot while the lion laughs. Can footage be any easier? The climax scene arrives as the lion pulls his “best gag”—the missing motor bit. But cartoon karma strikes, for when Huck turns the ignition, the detached motor chugs into action, sending the lion on a ride in the sky, as the blue hound remarks “that there lion will do anything for a laugh.” But don’t worry. The lion returns in the second season (and with a name) in the funnier Somebody’s Lion. Category:Episodes Category:Season 1 episode